1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wall mounted medical waste disposal container having a flexibly pivoted top closure lid and, more particularly, to a lid and lid mount which are adapted to greatly reduce the possibility of accidental deposit of waste items anywhere other than in the container's entrance aperture.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Various types of containers for hospital use have been developed for receiving medical waste in a surgical operating room, pre-op or post-op room, or a patient's room. These containers are particularly designed to protect the user of such containers, such as doctors, nurses, or other hospital personnel, from the hospital waste products that may be disposed therein. Such hospital waste products might include surgical sharps, such as needles, syringes, scalpel blades, or the like, or might include gauzes, bandages, or sponges. It is important to prevent the user of a sharps container from being accidentally cut or punctured by its contents.
Examples of such containers include those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,764 entitled "Mounting Bracket Having A Hidden Lock For A Sharps Collection System" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,251, entitled "Tortuous Path In-Patient Room Medical Waste Disposal Container".
In addition to protecting the user of a sharps container from its contents and to being easily sealed and disposed of, a sharps collection and disposal system should be readily available within a patient's room, an operating room, or a pre-op or post-op room. This ready availability feature can be accomplished by providing a mounting bracket for mounting the sharps collection system at a convenient location near an operating area, or a bed location in a pre-op, post-op, or patient's room.
However, the sharps collection and disposal systems currently available in the industry could be improved to ensure that the person attempting to deposit a medical waste item into the container may not miss the container opening when his or her attention is momentarily distracted and he or she attempts to deposit the item into the container in an inattentive manner, such as looking in one direction and reaching for the top of the container with one hand out of the line of sight of the depositor's eyes.
Thus, one object of the present invention is to provide a relatively "foolproof" deposit-acceptance system in such a manner that if the depositor's grasp is relaxed anywhere over the top of the container the waste item will be directed by the combined force of gravity and prepared sloping shape of the top of the container to draw the waste item into the top aperture without fail.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent a situation from occurring where the waste item is deposited behind the lid and its presence there remains hidden until the time to close the lid.
A still further object of the invention is to prevent a potentially even more undesirable result in which the medical waste item is accidentally deposited behind the container and between the container and the wall upon which it is mounted, remaining concealed there until the container is dismounted from its wall attachment in order to be discarded.